Basic Substitutions *UPDATED

It is possible to follow a large number of regular recipes using the following substitutions. If you are only excluding dairy and soya for example, you can literally switch the ingredients. Egg replacer can replace eggs but egg, wheat and gluten free cooking are a little different and require a little magic!

Egg Free

Egg substitutes have always been the hardest to find. Cakes rarely rise well without egg but you can substitute with a variety of alternatives. I have more recently made greater efforts to bake egg free since my daughter can no longer tolerate egg. Check out this blog post for some novel substitutions.


___________________________________________________________________________

Dairy Free 
NB There is also a separate post on Going Dairy Free here.

Pure Sunflower Margarine has to be THE best spread available. It is soya free and dairy free and is great in cakes, biscuits and savoury cooking.
Product Details here 

Pure make a new spread, "Pure Olive" using olive oil as an alternative and I also really like Flora's free from offering, although it isn't great for baking.


The last time I checked Stork  HARD BLOCKS of margarine were dairy free also, (NOT the spread) and this worked well in pastry.

Sainsbury's are also making their own free from spread, and I believe the palm oil it initially contained (for those concerned about sustainability) is no longer on the ingredients list.


Milk Substitutes - MUCH more info on a new post here.

There has recently been a scare about giving Rice Milk to young children because of Arsenic levels. I don't know anything about the research but I DO know that there are MUCH more nutritious and user friendly milks out there for use on a day to day basis and in cooking.

Infants should of course be either breastfed (maybe on a maternal exclusion diet) or on a prescription formula designed to meet their needs. Neocate is a hypoallergenic amino acid based milk and is excellent. It is also good for cooking with! I have made custard, quiche, sauces, rice puddings etc with it very successfully. Most infants already used to its flavour will happily tolerate and enjoy food cooked with it.

I have used Oatly Milk and Oatly Cream, until one of my twins also had to go gluten free. Rice milk (chocolate flavour!) is still a popular drink with my son but rice milk (like soya milk) is not as heat stable as oat milk. I would also never use soya milk even if my children tolerated it because it is high in oestrogens and (more importantly) is highly allergenic. (It is all too easy to over substitute and trigger an intolerance with Soya. I've done it myself.) You can get oatly in red or orange cartons. I always buy the red, it has calcium and vitamins added. YOU DO HAVE TO OPEN IT, THEN CLOSE AND SHAKE HARD to mix the contents of a new carton. The cream is particularly tasty and also makes great quiche!

Pea milk has been another recent addition.

"Free From" Cheese

I love the "No Moo" Cheese from Vegusto, it's better than Violife for adding protein but it contains nuts.
Violife is the best on taste grounds, but has no protein at all. Mozzarisella is fab for a mozzarella type replacement – doesn’t keep well once open though. (I freeze most things!) I’ve just discovered a new parmesan alternative at M&S too!

"Free From" Yoghurts

There are now so many options! However always think nutrition first for children in particular. Coconut is NOT a "superfood" and although high in fat has little protein. Check for added calcium and choose lower sugar options. Oatly have an excellent range, including Greek Yoghurt and Ice Creams!

For baking they have even more options!


____________________________________________________________________________

Gluten Free/ Wheat free 

NEW! Updated page on Gluten substitutes and Gluten Free baking

*Remember*  
Gluten Free will usually be wheat free but wheat free is NOT necessarily gluten free, and probably isn't. Because of the milling process oats are not gluten free unless specified. Some gluten free products have gluten free wheat starch in which isn't ok for all.

If you are gluten free, there is an extremely useful conversion chart here for substituting regular (plain) flour for gluten free alternatives.

Bread/Flour Substitutes

Without a doubt, BFree have totally revolutionised MEWS free bread. There rolls are mostly delicious, although the ciabatta and larger rolls are quite dry and almost impossible to swallow! Their wraps are great and don't fall apart and pack a number of interesting ingredients such as sweet potato, chia seeds etc as valuable, nutritious additions. They also make pittas and proper bread which toasts beautifully, and is equally good in sandwiches. Their pizza pockets fall apart, but toasted and sliced they are great in houmous! Current favourites are their English muffins, (which make amazing mini pizzas!) and their sourdough loaves




There are many loaves which are gluten, dairy and soya free, but most others like Newburn Bakehouse (Warburton's GF offering) and Genius have egg protein in. Warburton's add less sugar to their bread which is a big plus, and Genius have a reputation for loaves riddled with holes but this has improved recently. Genius are becoming more adventurous, with rolls, fruit bread, and even deli products and sandwiches available in some supermarkets. These are gluten free mainly but a great initiative!

Just is a fabulous bakery where I order in bulk and freeze.  (Make sure you don’t select “collect”, they are in Edinburgh!) 

Rice cakes (not flavoured ones) and corn cakes are good too, not very filling so need to be coupled with something filling, and obviously they go soft quickly. The lentil protein ones are a great find for us but obviously won't suit everyone.

Supermarket own brands are not great, they tend to be very springy white/brown loaves but are cheaper. Do check weights though, you are often paying the same per unit weight, their loaves are just smaller! 

Do check ingredients every time though, I've been caught out with some of the egg free packet mixes - they contain milk powder!

Flour 
You can’t beat Dove’s Farm self-raising flour. Juvela Harvest White is sometimes available on prescription. Dove's Farm have by FAR the best range of flours for all purposes. Their website is very user friendly, has recipe ideas on too and plenty of advice on wheat and gluten free living (the two are not the same!). I use the plain and self raising blended flours.





Rice flour on its own doesn't work as well and can be very crumbly. Add Dove's Farm Xantham Gum for stickiness, this replaces the gluten and binds the ingredients better. I have also found adding an additional teaspoon of baking powder helps. 



Be sure to CHECK it is gluten free baking powder if you are gluten free as well as wheat free.

Other Wheat flour substitutes

I came across Tiana Coconut Flour in our local Holland and Barrett store. It is high in fibre so might not suit all, but it is filling and easy to cook with (apparently!) You do need a wetter mixture if partially substituting in regular recipes, do read the Tiana site first. My own attempt at baking with it is documented here

Tiger nut flour is another recent find - a bit dry but very nutritious and good blended with other flours.

Little ones who cannot play with play doh and other brands due to wheat/gluten allergies? Check out Clay Dough. 
 ____________________________________________________________________________

Tomato Free

My daughter can tolerate heavily processed, broken down tomato protein - so baked beans or ketchup seems fine. However no one wants to eat tomato pasta with just one of those as a sauce! Bellygoodness are an AMAZING company which make a selection of free from sauces. Not cheap but they could give you ideas!

On pizzas, we use either Bellygoodness sauce, my own root veg blended sauce (careful if you use parsnips, I love them but the taste will overpower everything else!) or even just olive oil.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...